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ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A dog owner is happy to have her 2 1/2-pound Chihuahua back in her arms after it was allegedly stolen in Anaheim 12 days ago.

Regina Gomez said a woman snatched her pup, Bidis, from a laundry basket, which was in the front seat of her son’s car.

“That’s when [the woman] goes, ‘Oh, you got a Chihuahua.’ And she goes, ‘Sell it to me, I’ll give you a check right now for a $100.’ And [my son] goes, ‘No, that’s my mom’s birthday present, how am I going to give it to you?’ And when he said no, she grabbed [the dog] and she ran. She ran with my baby,” Gomez said.

Anaheim police detectives began the hunt for Bidis, who they said had disappeared not far from a police station.

The Gomez family joined in the search, talked to residents and snapped a photo of a license plate.

According to authorities, that clue led officers to an apartment where suspect Karen Price was living under another name.

“And while they start talking to the woman about, ‘Hey, have you seen this dog? There’s a dog here that apparently got stolen,’ the dog comes running up and starts barking. What we learned is that the woman actually renamed the dog … and was denying that she had stolen the dog,” said Anaheim police Lt. Tim Schmidt.

Price told KCAL9’s Michele Gile that she didn’t steal Gomez’s dog. She said she believed the woman’s son was under the influence.

“I felt bad for the dog. I felt like the dog was not in a safe place at that time. And anybody around here knows me, they know I’m a dog lover,” she said.

Meantime, police said the Anaheim City Attorney’s Office will issue an arrest warrant for Price.